Older drivers' self‐reported vision‐related night‐driving difficulties and night‐driving performance.

Purpose: To investigate associations between older drivers' perceived vision‐related night‐driving difficulties and night‐time driving performance measured on a closed‐road circuit. Methods: Participants included 26 older drivers (71.8 ± 6.3 years) who reported vision‐related night‐driving difficulties assessed with the vision and night driving questionnaire (VND‐Q). High‐contrast, photopic visual acuity (VA) and ratings of discomfort glare (de Boer scale) were also assessed. Night‐time driving performance was measured on a closed‐road circuit that involved recognition, hazard avoidance and lane‐keeping tasks in the absence and presence of intermittent glare. Generalized linear mixed models investigated the relationship between VND‐Q scores and overall driving performance scores, as well as with discomfort glare ratings and VA. Results: Greater levels of vision‐related night‐driving difficulties (VND‐Q scores) were significantly associated with poorer night‐driving performance (p = 0.003); the association was even stronger for driving performance in the presence of intermittent glare (p = 0.001). Reduced VA was associated with poorer night‐driving performance (p = 0.022) but the association was weaker than for the VND‐Q scores. In contrast, ratings of discomfort glare were not significantly associated with driving performance (p = 0.14). Conclusion: The VND‐Q was significantly associated with night‐time driving performance and provides a useful instrument for assessing vision‐related night‐driving difficulties which can be incorporated into clinical vision assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]